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Major League Baseball announced Wednesday that veteran Indians outfielder Marlon Byrd had been suspended 162 games for failing a major-league drug test for the second time. The 38-year-old had tested positive for a human growth hormone. He, like most of those that are caught, pleaded ignorance.

It was already the eighth suspension for performance-enhancing drugs issued by MLB in the first half of 2016, including and 80-game ban for Blue Jays first baseman Chris Colabello, handed down on April 22. Colabello’s suspension, which allows him to return on July 23, has become so insignificant on the PED radar that the respected Forbes magazine, in reviewing the history of important suspensions in the history of MLB’s program since 2004, does not even list Colabello. Apparently not a big enough name.

Amazingly, the eight suspensions are the third most from 40-man rosters in the 12 calendar years since drug testing was mandated in the 2004 basic agreement. Many would suggest that this high number is proof that baseball remains rampant with cheaters. Others, including myself, would say that this is a positive sign for baseball, that the science of testing has become more thorough and that the process of random testing has become truly random, with players no longer being warned in advance when MLB testers are on the way, as was once believed to be the case. It is a deterrent.

It used to be that players could know how long the traces of a particular PED would remain in the system before it was all clear to take a major-league test. But without telling the players — and why should they? — the testing in 2016 became better, able to detect traces of steroids for at least a week longer than in the past. Colabello came to camp in February and volunteered to take his physical with the pitchers, four days earlier than if he had waited to be examined with the rest of the position players. That either suggests, as he maintains, that he had no idea there were drugs in his system, or that he believed he had waited long enough, that the Turinabol, for which he is said to have tested positive, had already passed through the system. Turinabol is no longer manufactured legally.

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There was a time when players, prior to 2004, believed what they were doing was not against the rules of the game. There was no mandated MLB testing and the players’ union under Donald Fehr, protected its players from any drug-related sanctions like pitbulls, even though cheaters were cheating other players that were just as much members of the MLBPA. Basically those that were enhancing their performances via PEDs were just keeping up with the Jones-ers. But finally the U.S. government stepped in and that’s when baseball and the union agreed that something needed to be done.

In 2003-04, there was anonymous testing and if a certain percentage of players tested positive, the union would agree to random testing with punishment. That minimum number was passed.

On March 30, 2006, commissioner Bud Selig asked former Senator George Mitchell to make a wide-ranging study of PED use and issue a report with recommendations. The report, released in 2007, named names and opened a lot of eyes. Many of Mitchell’s suggestions were implemented.

Then there was the problem of human growth hormone replacing steroids as the PED of choice, because at that time there was no blood testing for HGH. In 2013 there was a breakthrough in the testing process for growth hormones and testing for unusual levels of testosterone was added.

MLB’s penalties for failing, as time went by, became more onerous— from 10 days for failing a first test to 80 today. A second offence now is 162 games, a third positive test brings a lifetime ban. Only Mejia has received the worst punishment.

In a clubhouse address of his teammates Wednesday, Byrd pretty much conceded that at his age and with a full season of being under suspension ahead of him that his career is over. Colabello, on the other hand, is hoping in July to revive a career that had taken such a fairy-tale turn before his ban.

The testing system is ever-improving, as the elevated numbers attest. If there were no failed tests, it would be more cause for concern. It will be interesting to see what tweaks there are to protect leaks and those that believe they failed in error, within the new agreement at the end of 2016. Players want the toughness, but they also need it to be fair and confidential.

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